developed quickly or would not be very different from competitors' capabilities). Enabling capabilities are distinguished from supplemental capabilities in that they are required, but do not necessarily add value to core capabilities. A business capability is what a company needs to do to execute its business strategy (e.g., enable e-payments, tailor solutions at point of sale, demonstrate product concepts with customers, combine elastic and non-elastic materials side by side, etc.). Another way to think about a capability is that it is an assembly of people, process and technology for a specific purpose. Capability Management is the active management, over time, of the portfolio of capabilities in a firm – their development and depreciation in conscious response to changes in the business environment. Capability management is an approach that uses the organization's customer value proposition to establish performance goals for capabilities based on value contribution. It helps drive out inefficiencies in capabilities that contribute low customer impact and focus efficiencies in areas with high financial leverage; while preserving or investing in capabilities for growth. Distinctive capabilities Oxford economist John Kay defines Distinctive Capabilities as those capabilities a firm has which other firms cannot replicate even after they realize what the benefits are that owning the capability confers. These distinctive capabilities are the source of superior performance of successful firms. Kay's Distinctive Capabilities may be identified with Leonard's inimitable and hard-won "Core Capabilities". However, Kay goes further in arguing that in order for a capability to be truly distinctive and the basis for competitive advantage it must meet two further criteria: sustainability and appropriability. Sustainability refers to the firm maintaining the distinctiveness and superiority of the capability relative to other firms despite their efforts to imitate or replicate it. One approach to sustainability is for the firm to develop the capability faster than the competitors through learning and innovation. Appropriability refers to the firm securing the benefits of the capability – or the exercising of its capability – for itself as opposed to those benefits accruing to the firm's customers, its staff – management or employees, or its shareholders, regulators or other stakeholders. Intellectual Property Rights are one means for securing appropriability. On the basis of analysis of empirical data regarding the performance of companies Kay argues that there are only a few types of distinctive capability that meet the additional criteria. Three are said to recur in the analysis: Innovation, Architecture